Biography

John C. Mankins is President of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC and of Mankins Space Technology, Inc. He is also Vice President of the Moon Village Association, and serves on the Boards of both the National Space Society and of SPACE Canada. And, most recently has joined the faculty of Kepler Space Institute.

During his 25-year career at NASA and JPL he held numerous positions, including serving as Chief Technologist for Human Exploration and Development of Space at NASA HQ, where he received the NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal, and created & managed the $1B per year Exploration Systems Research and Technology program.

He holds a B.S. from Harvey Mudd College and an M.S. from UCLA in Physics, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate University, and is a member of both the AAAS and the International Academy of Astronautics.

Mankins is best known for writing in the early 1990s the first detailed definitions of the “TRLs” – Technology Readiness Levels – and as the world’s leading expert in the field of “Space Solar Power”.

He lives with his family on a Ranch on the California Central Coast.